Teen Wounded As Friends Play With Bb Gun

SOMERS — Two teens were horsing around with a BB gun Thursday afternoon when a third teen was shot in the stomach at close range, state police said Friday.

State police arrested the 15-year-old who pulled the trigger, discharging the Daisy rifle-style BB gun he erroneously believed was unloaded.

Doctors at Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford operated on Michael Bohuckyj, 16, of 429 Main St., to remove the BB, police said. The BB did not penetrate any of Bohuckyj's major organs or arteries, and he is recovering, police added.

The name of the juvenile who shot Bohuckyj has not been released. Police charged him with first-degree reckless endangerment and third-degree assault. He was released on a promise to appear in juvenile court on June 11.

Police are treating the incident seriously, saying the shooting illustrates how dangerous all guns can be -- even BB or pellet guns, which people often tend to view more as toys than the firearms they are.

``I think the problem is a lot of people don't understand how dangerous BB guns and pellet guns can be, especially at point-blank range like this,'' said Sgt. Jose Claudio, the resident state trooper in Somers. ``This is a perfect example of how accidents happen. Obviously no one taught them how to use a gun safely, not to point it at each other and to treat it as if it's loaded.''

The shooting occurred on Colton Road, at the house of a girl the two teenagers and a third boy had gone to visit. No one else was home at the time, police said.

The juvenile who was arrested and the third boy, whom police also did not identify, picked up the gun owned by the girl's brother and began playing with it in the living room.

Bohuckyj and the girl took no part in the horseplay with the weapon, police said.

Police said the teenagers handling the gun thought it was unloaded because they had fired it at the living room floor and nothing had come out of it.

The 15-year-old who was arrested took the gun and aimed it at Bohuckyj, police said. When he pumped the gun, it fired.